ALison copley

Alison, originally from Adelaide, has spent the last 17 years working in the regional arts sector across Australia, from the northern city of Darwin where she worked at Top End Arts Marketing to Far North Queensland where she was employed as the CEO of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) to more recent times in the South as the CEO of Tasmanian Regional Arts and then General Manager and co-CEO of Tasdance, Tasmania’s contemporary dance company.

During her tenure at Top End Arts Marketing in Darwin (2007 to 2010) she produced the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair 2009 – 2010 and was involved in the development of numerous Indigenous community cultural festivals in the remote areas of the Top End of the NT.  She was part of the team that founded the Off the Leash magazine, Darwin’s inclusive arts and cultural free magazine and what’s on guide as well as being involved in ongoing strategic planning in the arts and culture sector to assist Territory artists and arts organisations with research, marketing, audience development, business development, capacity building and event management. 

Alison was the Venue Manager of the Darwin Entertainment Centre from 2003 to 2007. 

Alison has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Adelaide and a Post Graduate Diploma in Arts Administration and Cultural Management from the University of South Australia (2007).  In 2009 she was the recipient of a Winston Churchill Fellowship to ‘Investigate capacity building in Indigenous community cultural festivals in Canada, New Zealand and the Northern Territory’ In 2019, she received a scholarship to complete a Diploma in Business (Governance) at the Institute of Community Directors Australia (ICDA), a nationally recognised diploma-level governance qualification.  The scholarship is a partnership between ICDA and the Women's Leadership Institute Australia (WLIA), focused on governance upskilling of women living in regional areas. 

Alison is a member of Executive Panel of the national agency Live Performance Australia (LPA) liveperformance.com.au